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A group of six oddball but doughty kids encounter the trail of a vast and dreadful otherworldly darkness that has infiltrated our world from the deepest abyss of oblivion. They are compelled to spend their lifetimes confronting it, enduring horror after horror in the ordeal.

A Familiar Plot with a New Approach

This outlines the narrative, in essence, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (his best; no debate). It is also the plot of the celebrated author’s heir Joe Hill’s recent chilling tome, in which a band of six invoke the ancient, deeply sinister beast King Sorrow from the Endless Night to aid them in overcoming some villains. Unsurprisingly, their otherworldly invocation goes awry.

Embracing a Family Lineage

Joe Hill began his writing journey striving diligently to avoid any connection from his well-known dad, adopting the nom de plume he still uses today and steering clear of encounters with his agent (he exhibits a strong similarity to his parent). But in this latest novel, he fully acknowledges it. There are lines that deliberately echo some of his father’s iconic (that classic opening line); a moment that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a battle of wits). In this epic story, Hill is delighting in his heritage, and the audience revels alongside.

The Cast of the Central Figures

Focusing on the companions: five of them are students at the fictional this academic setting in the New England state. There’s Arthur, bookish and brilliant, solving Old English riddles in his leisure hours; the character Colin, rich, clever, and prone to trampling anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the attractive the lovely Allie. Additionally, Gwen appears, who remains outside their academic circle, but becomes a key part of their band as they experiment, partly convinced, somewhat doubtful, in arcane arts.

The Fateful Ceremony

Arthur is, for reasons we don’t need to go into, obliged to take prized manuscripts from his treasured institution’s archives by a group of neighborhood thugs. This devastates his scholarly soul, particularly as he’s made to take the collection’s foremost and disturbing work: the logbook of occultist Enoch Crane (put to death “for dealing with infernal entities in 1703”; the cover is made from his skin). Our Scooby gang read the journal, learn they can invoke what the occultist details as a “arrogant beast to assist Arthur with his blackmail problem – and occupy the subsequent narrative facing the fallout. This ancient entity will undoubtedly remove those troublesome local drug dealers, but they’ll have to choose a fresh offering annually or succumb to the dragon’s wrath. As our protagonist states: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is further monstrosities.”

Genre Fluidity and Inventive Breadth

Covering a generation, Hill also moves with natural fluency through various literary forms: as the friends attempt to deal with the situation they find themselves in by, variously, picking people who are obviously evil to offer up, or searching for methods to destroy the entity themselves, we move between thriller to shadowy tale, clandestine torment to romance to horror. A standout transition was to a heroic journey, far beneath the surface below Cornwall, a section tinged by JRR Tolkien that was gloriously terrifying.

An Expansive Canvas of Fear and Optimism

We encounter trolls – those living under bridges and online ones, truly terrifying and expertly realized. The story includes mystic weapons and betrayals, pulse-pounding sequences of valor and scenes of dreadful evil, both mortal and otherworldly. It’s a tour de force: a frightening tale that is primarily a paean to the creative spirit, and to devotion and companionship. “We needed a story to believe and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says this character as the allies assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their beast to life with the strength of their collective will.

According to Joe Hill in his epigraph: “Hic sunt dracones”. Don’t miss them.